Measly outlay of Rs2.3b for ECP

Budget documents did not mention any special allocations in connection with preparation of next general elections

ISLAMABAD: The government has earmarked just Rs2.34 billion for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the new budget on Friday, way below Rs8.5 billion sought by the ECP to keep pace with preparations for the general elections due next year.

Interestingly, the fresh budgetary allocation is just a nominal increase over the Rs2.25 billion set aside in the revised budget for the outgoing financial year.

As much as Rs1.29 billion would be used for employee-related expenses. Budget documents, however, did not mention any special allocations in connection with preparation of next general elections.



Sources in the ECP told The Express Tribune that commission had demanded Rs5.5 billion over and above its usual expenses to cater for election-related expenses.

“We had a series of meetings with high-ups of the ministry of finance,” an official of ECP said.

However, he was confident that government would later release additional funds.

Being a constitutional body, ECP’s budget comes under charged expenditures - a special head in the finance bill for which voting is not required.

Statistic division:

The government allocated Rs2.29 billion for the statistic division in the new budget against the previous year’s allocation of Rs2.2 billion.

However, because of on-going population headcount exercise revised budget for statistics division for the outgoing fiscal touched Rs20.7 billion. Bulk of this increase came in ‘operating expenses’ for the actual population census.